Pneumatic operating device for musical instruments and musical-instrument players.



PATBNTED JULY 30, 1907.

B. S. DEAN.- PNEUMATIC OPERATING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT PLAYERS.

APPLICATION FILED DEG-12.1906.

INVENTOR 'mzw H IS ATTORNEYS .duced depends upon the impactive iorce UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIo BENJAMIN S. DEAN, Ol SAN FRANCISCO, OALIFORXIA.

PNEUMATIC OPERATING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND MUSICAL- INSTRUMENT PLAYERS. I i

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 30,1907,

Application filed December 12.1905. Serial No, 291,382.

To all n'hom it may concern:

.lle itlcnown that I, BENJAMIN S. DEAN, a citizen of the Lnited States ot' .'\meri( -a, and Francisco. county of San l rancisco, State of (falit'ornia, have invented certain new and uset'ul lm1n-ovements in Pneumatic Operating Devices t'o1".\lusical instruments and Musical-lnstrument Players, ol' which the following is a specification. ret'erenee being had to the accompanying drawings, torming apart thereof.

This invention relates to improvements in pneumatic operating devices for musical instruments and musical instrument. players. and consists in an improved pneumatic means whereby varying degrees ot" force may he applied for the rnirposeot' operatingv the lever by which individual tones are produced in musical instruments and musical instrument players. such lever being rcpresented, for instance, by the keys of a piano or tlie'playing leversot' a piano player. 'llhc valueot' the tone proapplied. and, in the present invention, t'his force is varied'hy means of a plurality 0t pneumatic devices connected with a single element, each pneumatic.devicc capable oi impar ing in-1tselt a different. degree ot' force, the pneumatic means capable of being employed alone or with another or others of the same group. -ly this means as many as seven different values may in resented by only three pneumatic devices. for. it' the pneumatic devices have valucsol' say one, two and four units, such units employed alone and .in the various combinations will represent every integral numher of units from one to seven. These pneuniatic do vices may conveniently be secondary pncumatics con trolled in their action from the primary pneumatic de vices, as is. common in the art of self-playing instruments and instrument players. My improvements herein are particularly adapted for employment in connection with a system oi control described in a co pending application tiled Nov. 25th, 1905 and serially numbered 288,987, in which the dil lerent pneumatic devices are selectively employed under the control ot'.a perforated record sheet, said= record sheet having a perforation for each of the pneumatic Llt es.

in order that my invention may be fully understood, 1 will now describe. an embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawing and will then pointontthe novel features in claims.

in the drawings: Figure 1 iso view in side elevation of operating mechanism embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a trnnsvorse sectional view of the same along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top view of three of the mechanisms sideby side, with parts broken away.

ltet'ercnce characters 7, 8 and 9 designate primary pm-muinie devices ("(llltttillOtl in a stationary support ti a resident of San repsaid I i,."-. respectively.

7 open communication with a' pas channel, the valve H is lifted to open the passag l5 and at the same. time to clcse a passage lti. sage it leads to atmospheric air The pasand is normally in 'e 17 leading to the secondary pneumaticdevice controlled by'that particular primary pneumatic device. \l'hen the valve it closes the passage tti lherehy closing communicte tion between the passage lT and tllltllls plltllt' air. itat the same time opens communica ionbetween the passage lT. through the passage chamber of the prinntrv exhaust chamber It),

18. l 9 and 2t) designate secondary pneumatic nit-ans, each constructed in the t'orm of a collapsible-l1cllows chamber. The lower \valLot. the bellows is made stal'f and the diaphragm pneumatic device. and the tionary. while the upper wall of each of. the bellows ot' the central pneumatic deviccs of any one group is secured to a lever 22!. This lever 21 is iulcruin'cd at 21? to any suitable Sll}')[)tlli,'ftll(l is provided at its opp site end 'witlra link 22 the opposite end of which connects with any suitable tone element actuator.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the bellows lb, ltl'and 2t), constituting the said secondary pneumatic devices, are all normally open to'atmosphere, and are hence all distended in their normal po sitions. Operation of an one of the primary -pneumatic devices 7, S or 9 will close the secondary pneumatic device controlled thereby, to atmosphere and open same to exhaust. The result will be a collapsing of the particular bellows and a drawing down of the lever, 21. This, through its connection'23, will operate the tone actuator for the production of the individual tone selected. It will also be readily understood that if two of the primary pneumatic devices of any group are operated simultaneously, the corresponding secondary pneumatic devices of the same group -will be simultaneously operated, whereby an additional impactive force will be given to the lever 21 and a correspondinglyadditional force transmitted to the tone actuator, while.- it all three of the devices are simultanemisly operated a still greater imp-active force will be in'rpartedto the lever and the tone actuator.

above stated, the secondary pneumatic devices have preferably different: values, and they may he arranged to have such different values in different ways values by being placed one nearer, and the other further away from, the fulcrum or pivotal center 22.

Thus, in thearrangement shown, the pnuematic device 19 has an effective force upon the tone actuator representing a value of say two units to one unit of effective force of the pneumatic device 18. The pneumatic device 20 is arranged as of greater capacity than that of the other devices, and is also arranged still further away from the pivotal center 22. Thus the pneumatic device 20 may be considered to have a value representing say four units of effective l'orce. By this means seven different units of value may be available, for the employment of the pneumatic device 18 alone will give avalue of one unit, the device 19 alone two units, the devices 18 and 19 together three units, the device 20 alone four units, the devices 18 and 20 live units, the devices 19 and 20 six units, and the devices 18, 19 and 20 all together seven units.

In Fig. 3 I have shown three groups of pneumatic dcv s, each comprising three such devices connected with individual levers 21. Each group is intended to represent one tone to be produced, as will be well understood.

I am not claiming broadly herein the controlling of a tone by means of governing devices comprising a plurality of pneumatic controlling elements therefor, as that is included iii the co-peuding application above referred to, but

What I claim herein is:

1. Mechanism of the class described comprising a musical inslrument operating element consisting of a fulcrumed lover, a plurality of pneumatic (liYli'iS oi hollows form connected directly with said lcvcr at dill'crcnt dis tances from its fulcrum. and independent primary pneumatic devices, one for each said bellows pcnumatic device, arranged in direct communication therewith and for direct control thereof.

2. The combination with an exhaust-chamber and a lever pivotally connected to a wall thereof, said lever constituting a musical instrument operating element, of a pinrality of independent pneumatic devices of bellows form, one wall of each of said devices directly secured to the said lever but at a distance frolic-the pivotal support thereof diiIerent from that of thdothcrs, and the other wall of each of said devices secured to a part stationary with the said exhaust chamber, primary pnciiniatic devices one for each first said pneumatic device, said primary pneumatic devices comprising diaphragm controlled valves which open and close ports and.passages to and from said individual bellows devices. and means for controlling the operation of said primary pneumatic devices.

In a device of the character described, the combination with a support, and a vacuum chamber to one wall of which the said support is secured. of a lever pivotally se Llll'lil to the said wall of the vacuum chamber above the upper surface of the support, a plurality of pneumatic devices oi bellows form arranged between the said lever and support but at different distances from the pivotal support of said lever, said pneumatic devices being normally open to atmosphere, primary pneumatic devices. one for each said first named pneumatic device. arranged in said support immediately adjacent to said first named pneumatic devices, said primary pneumatic devices comprising each a diaphragm and a valve connected thereto, said diaphragm arranged-in normal open communication on both sides thereof with said vacuum chamber, said support having passages controlled by said valves leading from the upper side of the diaphragm oi rach said primary pneumatic dcvicc to the bellows of each said secondary device, respectively, said passages being normally closed y the valves of ting air to the primary pneumatic devices upon the opposite s ide of the diaphragms thereof to lift the individual valves of same. and thereby to open the last sold passages and at the same time to close conununication between the said bellows chamber and the atmosphere.

BENJAMIN S. DEAN \Yitnvsses Aid-1x (f. Kxoiui, FRANK C. Dam-i.

id primary pneumatic devices, and means for admit. 

